2021 – THREE GO TRAVELLING

As we prepare to welcome in the New Year of 2022, we have our fingers crossed we can carry on with our adventure, see some new (and old) places, meet up with family and friends, while continuing to be safe and well.

We’re looking back at what the last year has brought us and some of the places we have been.

We stayed at:

32 Caravan and Motorhome Club Sites;
34 Caravan and Motorhome Club Certified Locations;
5 Camping and Caravan Club Sites;
16 Independent Sites;
2 Motorhome Stopovers;
2 nights Off Grid; and
3 nights at home.

We left Lockdown 3 on 12th April, 2021 and have had a great time, travelling up to the Northern Coast of Scotland, completing the NC500, travelling along Hadrian’s Wall across Northumberland, down the east coast of England, discovered the Meridian Line, caught up with family, just missed meeting friends (who were on the same campsite, but arrived as we prepared to leave!).

We had an emergency trip to the vet, nothing serious as it turned out, but still a worry; found some great places to eat (and some not so great!) and followed whims as to where to go. We stayed at a variety of Racecourses, fishing lakes, Marinas and even an Aerodrome, followed the Grand Union Canal north and retraced our steps to the Bristol and Somerset.

We’ve rediscovered places we thought we knew, but found better weather really helped! Taken time to relax and not rush around, and seen some sights. We’ve learnt some good lessons (the hard way), if a site looks too difficult to get into don’t bother – this would have prevented an argument with a fence post/ LPG Lorry and a couple of sleepless nights working out how to get out of a site!

We have tried to think of our best places of the year (in no order):

The Lodge CL, Halmer End, Stoke;
Omaha Meadows CL, Verwood, Hampshire;
Grove Lock Marina CL, Leighton Buzzard;
Blythe Waters CL, Solihull;
Salisbury Camping and Caravanning Club Site;
Slinfold Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Bunree Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Dunnet Bay Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Seacroft Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, Cromer;
Gamrie Bay CL, Banff, Scotland;
Findhorn Motorhome Stopover, Scotland;
Minehead Caravan and Motorhome Club Site;
Lochgilphead Caravan Park;
Boston Aerodrome CL, Lincolnshire;
Lost Acres CL; and
Baltic Wharf Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, Bristol.

We don’t know when we’ll be able to get to France and Spain, but we’ve got our fingers crossed. For now, we’re happy to be safe and well and hope you are too. As always, thank you for reading, wishing you a happy and safe 2022, we’ll be back soon…..

Happy New Year!

We had hoped to be spending Christmas and New Year 2020 in Spain, but Coronavirus put paid to that idea. Instead we’re in our Lockdown Parking Spot, as our home postcode went from Tier 2 to Tier 4, on Boxing Day. We’re not surprised or too down about it, we’re safe and well as are our families too, barring a COVID-19 scare and a fractured wrist!

2020 was not the year we expected! I don’t think it was for anyone. For years we’d planned our travel adventure and nine months in, it was curtailed. We’ve still managed to do a few things this year, regardless.

2020 – in a nutshell:

Having said goodbye to Albi in Spain, in January, we returned to England in March and picked up our new puppy, Reg, It might seem quite a short time between dogs but we realised in the two months on the road, life wasn’t the same without one. Reg is not Albi, despite being the same breed, they are totally different!

Spain and Gibraltar: We loved exploring the coast and mountains. We have got several places we want to return to and hopefully Christmas 2021, can be spent out there.

France: Travelling back along the Canal du Midi up to Bordeaux and on to the most westerly cap, in Brittany before turning right and heading along the English Channel.

Lockdown 1: three months with a new puppy in a car park, was entertaining, but we survived. Reg started puppy training, we took advantage of the good weather and the garden. We went out on our bikes and generally, survived!

July – October: We took advantage of being able to travel and visited much of England and Wales. We avoided hotspot areas and were able to see some places, we’d never been to before.

November – Lockdown 2: We returned to our car park, the prospect of another stay here was daunting, but we knew we could get through it. We had planned to be relatively local, anyway, awaiting the imminent arrival of our first granddaughter (she is actually the sixth grandchild, but the first girl in 30 years!). We are slightly biased, but she is a beauty.

December – a mixed bag! We rescheduled our campsite from November to December, We travelled locally and stayed at some places, we’d usually deem to close to stay at (we could day trip from our old house!). We made arrangements for Christmas and New Year, before changing our plans as the sites we wanted to go to were placed into Tier 4 and closing. Then, the big one on Boxing Day our location and our home address went into Tier 4 too. The campsite was closing, so we had to return home to the car park for the New Year.

We’re hoping 2021, is a better year for us all. There is a hope with the roll out of the vaccination programme. We’re planning our adventure for 2021 and hopefully we’ll be able to see it through, but it’s more important that we stay safe and well. Thank you, as always, for reading, we’ll be back in 2021.